From music to nudity, Venezuela protesters get creative

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan students are putting mock gravestones in the streets, setting up "resistance" camps and even stripping off in a plethora of new tactics to counter dwindling support for a three-month protest movement against President Nicolas Maduro.

"Lately, the protests haven't been working so well. People are starting to get tired and bored," said Eliana Mora, a 25-year-old student at the Catholic Andres Bello University.

She has joined scores of others posting nude photos online, in solidarity with one protester who was beaten and paraded naked during violent clashes on a university campus.

"This is a different way to motivate them and make them do something else," added Mora, who posted her photo with the words "Better naked than without freedom of expression."

The new tactics aim to give the protest movement broader appeal and contrast with the images of violence, petrol bombs and tear gas that had come to define the unrest.

Anti-government demonstrations began in February at universities in the country's western state of Tachira and snowballed after opposition politicians jumped on the bandwagon.

At least 41 people have since been killed in the violence, with victims on both sides.

Complaining about inflation, crime and police abuse, the student protesters are clamoring for change in Venezuela, with some calling for the socialist Maduro to resign just over a year since he won power after the death of Hugo Chavez.
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